Hanuman - Lesson 6

HANUMAN COVERED WITH SINDHUR

Hanuman was entirely innocent and truthful. We can learn these two qualities from

this story.

One day, Hanuman was in Queen Sita’s apartments. He saw her put a small red dot of

vermillion on her forehead. It is the custom of Indian women to put a small red dot on

the forehead as a sign of piety and also for beauty. “Why are you putting that dot on

your forehead?” Hanuman asked Sita. Sita amused and embarrassed by his simplicity.

Sita replied with a smile “So that your Lord’s life-span will increase.” Hanuman is

impressed. “Is that so? Just by putting on that stuff, the Lord Rama will live longer?”

Sita blushes again, “That’s what people say, yes.”

Hanuman rushes to the bazaar and finds a shop that sells sindhur. While the alarmed

shop owner looks on, he grabs several sacks of the fine, red-orange power, tears them

open, and dumps them over him, then rolls in the heap of vermilion on the floor. In a

trice, he rushes back to the palace. Rama is seated in full court, and Hanuman enters

and takes his usual place, standing attentively near the foot of the throne. He is bright

red from the top of his head to the tip of his long tail.

All eyes fixed on him, and the assembled courtiers react in various ways; some gasp,

others giggle nervously. Sita merely smiles to herself. Rama asked “Hanuman, what

has happened to you? Did you have an accident?” Hanuman presses his palms

together to address Rama. Tears well up in his yellow eyes as he declares, “My Lord,

may you live for as many years as there are hairs on your servant’s body!” Sita

whispers something in Rama’s ear, and he descends from the throne dais and

embraces Hanuman with great love. Then he announces to the whole court, “Today is

Tuesday, and henceforth those who offer oil and vermilion to my beloved Hanuman,

the son of the wind, on this day will please me and will have their wishes granted.”

Hanuman is still worshipped in India by covering his murthi (statue) with vermillion.

Most of us get angry or ashamed when other laugh at us. But Hanuman was not like

that. He only had devotion in his heart towards his Lord. No big ego, nothing but just

devotion. He did not care what others thought. So he did not mind others laughing at

him.

HANUMAN AND BHIMA

Another story is about Arjuna’s elder brother Bhima. Bhima was the second of the five

Pandava brothers. Now all the Pandava brothers were strong, but Bhima was the

strongest. He was taller, broader and had big bulging muscles. But just as sometimes

girls feel proud they are beautiful and pretty, boys also feel proud of their strength. But

to be proud is not a good thing and this story tells us why!

One day, Bhima went to the forest to cut wood. As he was walking fast, taking big

steps, he suddenly stopped on seeing a monkey’s tail lying across his path. Now Bhima

was in a hurry and shouted at the monkey, “Hey you! Move your tail out of my way.”

The monkey, who was old and frail, turned and looked at Bhima and softly told Bhima,

“Sir, I am old and ill. I have no power to move. Please shift my tail out of your path.”

Proud of his strength, Bhima responded, “What a bother,” he said, “Don’t you know

who you are talking to? I am the famous Bhima whom everyone is afraid of. No one

dare stand in front of me in the battlefield. And you, an old monkey, are telling me to

touch your tail and move it out of my path! Listen. I will not change my path and I will

not touch your tail. Just get up from my way.”

But the monkey pleaded with Bhima again. Bhima grumbled again but also realized

there was nothing else to be done but to move the monkey’s tail. Making a face,

Bhima tried to move the tail out of his way with his little finger. But the tail did not

move at all. He then threw his axe down and tried to move it with his hand. But

suddenly it seemed like the tail was stuck to the ground! Angry and frustrated, Bhima

held the tail with both his hands, took a deep breath and tried to move it. But oh God,

nothing happened. He tried and he tried but he couldn’t move it by an inch.

And then suddenly Bhima understood what was happening – this was no ordinary old

and ill monkey. This had to be someone else. This was… Okay children who can guess

who this monkey was? Yes, it was none other than Hanuman Himself, who was strong

and mighty, but not proud of His strength at all. He was only teaching a lesson to

Bhima so that Bhima could realize that his being proud was a mistake. Ashamed of his

arrogance, Bhima fell on hanuman’s feet and asked for forgiveness and promised never

to be proud again.

Moral Value

Be humble: So children what have we learnt from Bhima’s story? We should be

humble; we should not be proud, we should not be a show off or think highly of

ourselves. You saw what happened to Bhima because he was proud. He thought he

was so strong but could not even lift a monkey’s tail. So remember that if we boast

about ourselves we could end up making a fool of ourselves. We should instead learn

to be like Hanuman. Even though he was the strongest of them all, he always

remained humble and modest. Even after the completing of His heroic and successful

mission to Lanka, He introduced Himself as follows “I am the servant of Lord Rama,

who is the savior of the weak. I am the slave of the King of Ayodhya”. In His great

humility, he explains the secret of His success. He says “His (Hanumanji referring to

Himself) greatness is neither inherited nor a result of chanting Mantras. It is solely

because the Lord resides in His heart”.

CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 King of Lanka

5 Ravana's vehicle

8 Creator of Universe

13 Portion of Hanuman's body was put on fire

14 Hanuman's other name

16 King of Vanaras

17 Ravana's son

20 Sugriva's kingdom

21 King of Gods

24 Where is the Sanjivini herb available?

26 Rama's another brother

27 The Garden where Ravana kept Sita

28 Hanuman's mother

29 Sita's husband

DOWN

2 Son of Vali

3 Sugriva's brother

4 Rama's Guru

6 The name of Herb gave life to Lakshmana

7 Hanuman is a semi-divine race called

9 Hanuman's father

10 Number of heads Ravana had

11 Rama's brother

12 Vanaras built this to cross Ocean

15 Ravana's brother

18 Rama's kingdom

19 Hanuman is an incarnation of

22 Hanuman is great devotee of

23 The island that Ravana lived

25 Who Gave immortality to Hanuman?

1 2 3 4

5 6

7

8

9 10 11 12

13 14

15

16

17

18 19

20 21 22

23

24 25

26

27

28 29

Drawing Exercise: Use Crayons to Color Hanuman